Videoconferencing generally refers to technologies that allow people to feel and appear as if they were present at a place other than their true location. Videoconferencing can make use of video and other technologies that together implement the sensory elements of vision, sound, and manipulation. Videoconferencing systems may be implemented as conference rooms with special tables, large-format video screens, microphones, speakers, cameras, collaboration interfaces and lighting, that are connected via networks to other videoconferencing systems so that participants in a videoconferencing session feel as if they are all together in one conference room. Other implementations may include only desktop-based videophones for participants.
Videoconferencing systems are typically “fixed,” in that the media streams they use to communicate information between participants are hosted on fixed wireline access networks, in which the media streams travel over relatively high bandwidth wires. In contrast, mobile devices such as smartphones communicate over wireless networks, which often have more limited bandwidth and quality of service (QoS) than wireline networks. Fully extending videoconferencing capabilities to such mobile devices presents numerous challenges, including those caused by both the limitations of the mobile devices and of the wireless networks in which the devices operate. While it is generally known to configure a videoconferencing session to stream a one-way video and/or audio media stream to a mobile device, and to allow the mobile device to send information to videoconferencing participants by communicating through collaborative tools, such configurations are limited by the mobile environment, and do not provide the mobile user with the qualities and capabilities that users have come to expect when using fixed videoconferencing systems.